Spatial Incongruence in Accountable Decision Making: The case of Heat Resilience among Mobile Home Owners in Arizona

Keywords: Scale, Decision making, Accountability, Mobile Homes, Resilience, Heat
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 69

Abstract

We present a multi-scale approach that compares jurisdictions, impacts, and accountability in the case of heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona. While only 5% of Maricopa County residents live in mobile homes, residents comprise up to 40% of indoor heat-related deaths. Our research has uncovered a complex socio-economic and environmental reality faced by mobile homeowners that finds them falling between the cracks of available solutions, in no small part because of the scale at which policies and decisions enable or constrain responses across domains of public health, housing, and climate. We will identify, characterize and discuss the spatial incongruences that affect heat resilience among mobile-home dwellers in Arizona and the accountability or lack thereof for solutions being available to them drawing upon three years of fieldwork analysis of exposure and co-produced solutions with community entities in the public, nonprofit and utility sectors. In addition to the summary of findings about heat resilience solutions, we propose knowledge exchange methodological approaches built upon geographic theory of scale for scholars to better align research with policy and decision-maker engagement, in ways that illuminate spatial incongruences across the landscape of decisions and public accountability. Given the increasing need for scientific findings that support actionable decision making, it is imperative to innovate methodological approaches that are both capable of engendering appropriately scaled impact and that are cognizant of the landscape of decision-maker accountability when it comes to addressing heat-related deaths as an instance of climate-related hazards in a context of exposure due to housing insecurity.